Frankfurt – Bordeaux

On November 13, 1951 at 01:00 PM, Frankfurt – Bordeaux experienced a crash involving Fairchild C-82 Packet, operated by United States Air Force - USAF, with the event recorded near Le Mont-Dore Puy-de-Dôme.

The flight was categorized as military and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

36 people were known to be on board, 36 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 4, passengers on board: 32, passenger fatalities: 32, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. After departure from Frankfurt-Main Airport, the crew was informed about strong winds blowing from the northwest up to 30 knots, on the route between Dijon and Bordeaux. The pilot-in-command continued his route in IFR Mode at the altitude of 6,000 feet. While cruising in marginal weather conditions, the aircraft hit the slope of a mountain located near Le Mont-Dore, about 32 km southwest of Clermont-Ferrand. The airplane was destroyed upon impact and all 36 occupants were killed. It was reported that the visibility was estimated over 40 km below the cloud layer that was 6/8 at 1,000 meters. Nevertheless, the aircraft was off course to the south by 100 km at the time of the accident, probably due to strong winds. Also, the crew continued the flight at an altitude of 6,000 feet instead of the initial intended 8,000 feet.

Aircraft reference details include registration 45-57801, MSN 10171, year of manufacture 1945.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 45.5897°, 2.7762°.